The field of communications has become increasingly important in today's society. Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism in telecommunications networks that carries data from one network node to the next. Layer 2 services (such as Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and Ethernet) can be emulated over an MPLS backbone by encapsulating the Layer 2 Protocol Data Units (PDUs). An alarm indication signal (AIS) is typically used to indicate a signal failure. An AIS can be used in many transport platforms, standards, and applications. For example, an AIS may suppress alarms that are on network nodes, which are not the root cause of a failure. In addition, the AIS may trigger protection switching, for instance, by switching a node to a protected network. In all such cases, optimal management of signaling presents a significant challenge to network operators, service providers, and device manufacturers alike.